Object Reuse and Exchange (OAI-ORE)

If your job involves working with digital content, your need to make sense of interoperable digital information by managing resources with care and quality metadata and by connecting users to resources—and resources to resources—is greater than ever. In the May issue of Library Technology Reports, Michael Witt helps you do just that. If you are an Electronic Resources Librarian, Digital Archivist or work with Digital Catalogs in any capacity, this report is a must-read for you.

The Open Archives Initiative Object Reuse and Exchange specification defines a set of new standards for the description and exchange of aggregations of web resources. This presents an exciting opportunity to revisit how digital libraries are managing. ORE and its concept of aggregation—that a set of digital objects of different types and from different locations on the web can be described and exposed together as a single, compound entity—may present the next major disruptive technology for librarians who develop and manage collections of digital information. This technology could change your job.

Michael Witt is the interdisciplinary research librarian and assistant professor of library science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and an expert on the technology behind digital content management. Through real-world examples, extensive diagrams and careful explanation, he details the potential of this exciting new technology, and how it can make the management and searching of your digital content more effective and efficient.